There is a need to have a flame barrier to protect people and/or property from fire. For example, the roof of a house could use a protective barrier if threatened by a fast moving forest fire. Limbs, leaves, or needles of trees need a flame barrier to stop the spread of a forest fire. The roof or walls of many modern buildings contain glass panels which may need a fire barrier to pass building fire code restrictions. The flame barrier may have to be transparent to be usable for architectural glass applications. Containers which come in a variety of shapes could also utilize a flame barrier built into the packaging to protect contents from fire. The parts and elements of many electronic and electrical devises have plastic parts that are required to have a certain level of flame resistance. In general terms, there is a need for a flame barrier that can be incorporated into the elements of any system that requires protection from heat or flames and there should be little environmental risk or human health risk exposure from the barrier.
Homes and businesses are being located near or within forests and are at risk from major fires. There is a need for a product that a home owner or fire department could spray onto trees, shrubs, and buildings to form a flame barrier as the danger of a fire approaches whether it is from a forest fire, neighboring structure, or adjoining structure. It would be further appealing if the product can be safely washed off after the danger passed. Such a product should pose little threat to the environment.
Currently, ammonium phosphates, ammonium polyphosphates, and ammonium sulfates are dissolved in water and sprayed or dropped onto forest fires. These materials do not form a film on the trees nor do they foam when subjected to heat or flames and thus do not form an insulating barrier on the trees. Such amine compounds are considered to pose little threat to the environment and are widely used even they do not appear to be very effective in preventing devastating fires. These compounds do not have very high thermal stability that occur in large forest fires.
Fire resistant glazings are one element of buildings that need to pass strict building codes for fire resistance. One such product is made by incorporating an inorganic silicate layer such as water glass and other ingredients sandwiched between two opposed panes of glass, which may be multiple layers. Such products under the trade names PYROSTOP® and PYRODUR® are sold by the Pilkington group of companies. This type of technology is discussed in GB 1585125 A. Incorporation of gels to control viscosity into such a construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,230. The inorganic silicate layer intumesces or foams when exposed to a flame or high heat. The foam protects because of its poor thermal conductivity and it also does not allow radiative transfer of heat. However, this glazing technology is very expensive and not highly automated. There is a need for a lower cost fire resistant glazing that is faster to make and less labor intensive.
Thus, there continues to be a need for an environmentally friendly alternative to halogenated polymers and halogenated flame retardants for molded plastic parts, with one use being in electronic and electrical equipment. The flame barrier polymer of this invention can be used for such applications.